Boston is more important in the average American’s life than most of us think.
In childhood he hears “Rock-a-Bye Baby,” then gets Mother Goose rhymes . . .
both emanating from Boston. He will probably attend a free public school, and
draw books out of a free public library . . . both of which were also originally
Boston institutions. He will learn “My Country ‘Tis of Thee,” a song originated
from our own Park Street Church. His shoes, and the cloth from which his
clothing is made, come either from our Metropolis or points nearby. If a city
dweller, he may live in an apartment . . . another Boston idea. In emergencies,
as well as for ordinary conversation, another Boston invention, the telephone,
is called on. He will probably shave with a safety razor, invented in Boston .
. . his “safety” is quite likely to have come directly from South Boston. For
satisfying a “sweet tooth,” candy from Boston or Cambridge will most likely be
used. If he gets sick, much of the medical equipment is likely to come from
Boston. And if an operation is needed . . . Boston introduced the idea of
anesthetics. And, when the time has come to depart this vale of tears, our
average American is likely to be resting under a slab of Quincy granite.

*

A
well-known American school story is the tale of the schoolboys who went to the
British authorities to protest the breaking up of their snowslide, this being
told as one of the incidents leading up to the Revolution. This actually
happened in the Boston Latin School in December, 1774. The school was then on
the present site of the Parker House, and the military headquarters was where
City Hall is now. The snowslide was the long coast down Beacon Street from its
big bend, and the whole length of School St. School St. is named from the Latin
School having been there in those days.

*

Boston once possessed more territory than it does now. Though, in the old days,
Charlestown, Roxbury, and Dorchester were separate towns (Dorchester including
South Boston) . . . though Brighton used to be part of Cambridge, and Hyde Park
part of Dedham . . . nevertheless, as Boston originally included what is now
Braintree, Quincy, Brookline, Chelsea, Revere and Winthrop, it gave Boston
considerably more area than now comes within the official city limits. If
population of former as well as present limits were to be counted, Boston’s
population would exceed that of Detroit.

*

The Massachusetts General was the first hospital in the world to use
anesthetics, over a hundred years ago. “Ether Day,” the anniversary of that
event, is still regularly celebrated by the medical staff of that hospital on
October 16 every year.